ApiFix featured in Canadian media

Meet the Halifax doctor changing how scoliosis is treated in North America

The minimally invasive system for the treatment of adolescent scoliosis developed by ApiFix captures incremental changes. Photo: ApiFix

By Alexander Quon, Global News Canada (26 July 2018)

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For the roughly three per cent of children who develop scoliosis, their range of motion becomes restricted and their spine begins to curve or rotate
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Dr. Ron El-Hawary, chief of orthopedics at the IWK, is the first and only surgeon in North America to perform a new and less-invasive surgery that gives children suffering from scoliosis a new lease on life.

The unique and innovative procedure, known as ApiFix, has been used and developed over the past six years in Europe and Israel.

IWK Hospital in Halifax the only place in North America to offer ApiFix procedure

A teenager from southern Ontario says her quality of life has changed dramatically after travelling to Halifax for a new spinal surgery that one surgeon says has the possibility to dramatically change the way children with scoliosis are treated.

Just six patients have had the surgery so far, including 14-year-old Jessica Robb of Westover, Ont., who said that within a week of the surgery, she felt a difference.

“I felt a little straighter. I was still in pain a little bit after, but I felt a lot better than I did before,” said the teen about the surgery nine months ago that is now allowing her to participate in more sports.

The IWK Hospital in Halifax is the only place in North America to offer the ApiFix procedure, and surgeons across North America are watching the results closely.